OCR Text |
Show 132 THE MONTHLY orrER!N'C:. hope," continued this eloquent representative of the chat· tel system, " convince them there is nothing doing among' you to effect their freedom-convince them that there is no power without to efiect their peaceful emancipation, and my word for It, plans will be instantly matured to bring about their freedom by those very hands which have culti· nted and beautified the South. They will, to a man, stand forth in their own defence, and' if need be, to secure their liberty, they wlll create a sea of blood. If you wish to put a weapon into the hands of the slave,-if you wish to goad him to use it, in a slate of desperation, drop the anti-slavery question-cease to agitate, and then the hand of the slave, Ishmael-like, will be against every slave-hold· er. Every petition you send to Congress, while it makes the slave-holder roar with rage, it at the same time lights up a feeling of hope in the bondman's bosom, and assures him that the day of his redemption draws nigh." They are Happy The chapter from the " Memoirs of a Slave, or Archy Moore," is here inserted that the reader may perceive that the slaves are subjected not only to great bodily privations, but to constant and e:reessive mental sufferings. This is one of the most interesting anti-slavery books which has been published. It should be in the possesswn of every one. It is published in two volumes, and can be had at the Depository, 25 Cornhill, for 50 cents. I have before observed that Sunday i3 the slave's holi· day. Where intermarriages are allowed between the alaves of different plantations, this is generally tho only THF.Y ARE HAPPY. 133 .occasion on which the scattered branches of the same family are indulged with an opportunity of visiting each other. Many planters, who pride themselves upon the excellence Df their discipline, forbid these intermarriages altogeth er; and if they happen to have a superabundance of men-servants, they prefer that one woman should have half a doz. en husbands rather than suffer their slaves to be corrupted by gadding about among other people's plantations. Other managers, just as good disciplinarians, and 11 little . more shrewd than their neighbors, forbid the men only to marry away from home. They are Vctry willing to let the women get husbands wh-ere they can. They reason in this way. Wh-en a husband goes to see his wife, who lives upon another plantation, he will not be apt to go empty- handed. He will carry something with him, probably something eatable, plundered from his master's fields, that may serve to make him welcome, and render his coming a sott of festival. Now every thit>g that is brought upon a plantation in this way, is so much clear gain; and so far as it goes, it amounts to feeding one's people at the expense of one's neighbors ! Sunday, as I have said, is the day upon which are paid the. matrimonial visits of the slave. But Sunday was no holtday to me; for I was generally obliged, on that day, to attend my master upon his ecclesiastical excur• ion s. To malw up for this, Mr. Carleton allowed me Thursday afternoons, so that l was able to visit Cassy at least once a week. The .year that followed, was the happiest of my life; and with all the inevitable mortifications an.d miseries whi~h sl~ve!Y• ever. under its least repulsive form, eve; carnes Wtth tt, I sttl l look back to that year with pleas ure, -a plea~ure that yet has po\\"er to warm a heart, saddened and embmered by a thousand painful recol 1ections. Bo_forc the end of the year, Cassy Tl'ade me a father. The mfant boy had all his mother's beauty; and only he who IS a father, and as fond a hu sband too as I WitS, can .know the feelings with which I pressed tb.e little darling to my heart. |